IMHO, there are more important issues that need fixing in F1 to make it a better sport than removing Grid Girls right now...

Just because they've made this decision, doesn't automatically mean that they haven't been focusing on ANYTHING else.

Seriously, is that your thinking?

I think this is well overdue and I love that they're addressing a very easy issue that complies with today's social norms (long overdue in my opinion) of not treating women as merely objects. Having all females in this role particularly goes against the movement within F1 - Dare To Be Different.

P.s. it was always cringey, for me personally, seeing a line of grid girls when drivers walk up the stairs to the post race cool down room

Removing grid girls wouldn't have been a strenuous exercise for Liberty, more just saying 'no, we don't want them' rather than spending months and millions researching it. Which is what they're probably doing with the more important stuff i.e. improving the racing right now.

How does removing Grid girls improve the sport? i just think there are better things to do than firing a load of people to keep a small (yet vocal) group of people (who i highly doubt watch F1 anyway) satisfied.... until they find something else to complain about.

What is good about it? That PC culture won again, because everyone is offended by everything nowadays? It's not like the girls were forced to do it, they probably did it happily.Perhaps not in the countries that shouldn't be allowed to host an F1-race to begin with.

What is good about it? That PC culture won again, because everyone is offended by everything nowadays? It's not like the girls were forced to do it, they probably did it happily.Perhaps not in the countries that shouldn't be allowed to host an F1-race to begin with.

Yes, we had this discussion recently.

Each to their own on this one, times have moved on indeed, but equally the people working in the modelling business are not exactly chained or forced to do these gigs. It's just extra money for them.

That said, the corridor girls are just creepy, being there just to clap the winners. That I don't mind see it going.

the 'Corridor girls' are probably staying... the fact that they've specified it's the 'walk on grid girls' that are going suggests (to me) that the corridor girls and podium girls are sticking around.... which then make the whole removal of Grid Girls more of a pointless action

How does removing Grid girls improve the sport? i just think there are better things to do than firing a load of people to keep a small (yet vocal) group of people (who i highly doubt watch F1 anyway) satisfied.... until they find something else to complain about.

it does nothing to improve F1...

It does improve F1. It improves the brand, the ethos and principals. These are relayed to the world.

What I think you're frustrated about is the lack of improvement for the racing. But that's a different topic/thread/discussion. Don't mix that frustration into this decision.

Saying that, I see that you at least think the corridor girls are creepy/cringey - 100% agree with you on that!

Not massively bothered either way, but it does smell a bit of tokenism for me. It's not like the women are there against their will nor, I suspect, are they the recipients of the same sort of treatment that has been in the British news recently about the hostesses at that fund raiser. It's an easy PR win though, and given how Liberty are embracing social media, it really was an obvious choice to do away with them.

How does removing Grid girls improve the sport? i just think there are better things to do than firing a load of people to keep a small (yet vocal) group of people (who i highly doubt watch F1 anyway) satisfied.... until they find something else to complain about.

it does nothing to improve F1...

How does having them impact the sport positively? They're not F1 employees so Liberty aren't firing them

How does removing Grid girls improve the sport? i just think there are better things to do than firing a load of people to keep a small (yet vocal) group of people (who i highly doubt watch F1 anyway) satisfied.... until they find something else to complain about.

it does nothing to improve F1...

How does having them impact the sport positively? They're not F1 employees so Liberty aren't firing them

Just a bunch of tokenism.........i'm sure it will gain loads of new fans for F1 (it was the only thing that stopped them from being fans of the sport) Whilst they are throwing things in the bin can they ensure we dont have to ever put up with that cringe worthy build up to the US GP again...

How does removing Grid girls improve the sport? i just think there are better things to do than firing a load of people to keep a small (yet vocal) group of people (who i highly doubt watch F1 anyway) satisfied.... until they find something else to complain about.

it does nothing to improve F1...

How does having them impact the sport positively? They're not F1 employees so Liberty aren't firing them

If they are not their employees, how can they remove them?

Models typically work for agencies. I'm sure the grid girls are no different. An F1 representative would have contacted an agency to send down x amount of girls. Now they won't be contacting the agency anymore

How does removing Grid girls improve the sport? i just think there are better things to do than firing a load of people to keep a small (yet vocal) group of people (who i highly doubt watch F1 anyway) satisfied.... until they find something else to complain about.

it does nothing to improve F1...

How does having them impact the sport positively? They're not F1 employees so Liberty aren't firing them

The whole issue is about the message Liberty is wanting to send out. The grids girls are largely invisible anyway, 99.999% of people watch F1 on the TV and when the grid is shown (for example during a grid walk interview) at most you will catch a flash of one of them in the background as it's either the presenter talking to camera or them interviewing a driver. Majority of the remaining 0.001% of people who are at attendance at the track are either not at the start finish straight so definitely can't see them, or are too far away to really make them out. And if you have gone to the F1 race to ogle a grid girl from the start finish straight grandstands with a pair on binoculars then I would suggest it was not the most efficient use of money to achieve that result.

The truth is they could have got rid of the grid girls, not said anything, made everyone involved with F1 sign an NDA not to mention they were gone, and no one would have noticed. Liberty wants to make a statement, they want to send out the message that F1 has moved on from Bernie's era. Axing grid girls will get a lot of press attention without making any practical difference to the sport.

Anyone who stops watching F1 because grid girls got axed is going to be part of a very small group and was probably watching the sport for the wrong reasons. Sure, many people will be annoyed by it and will disagree with it happening, but it's the equivalent of Donald Trump changing the colour of the curtains in the Oval Office after moving in.

It's ultimately about image, not having grid girls is unlikely to deter existing fans or companies marketing to the sport, however the shift in image change may help attract new ones. It certainly underlines the fact that Bernie is gone.

Interestingly Liberty apparently own Sports Illustrated. So presumably that will no longer show pictures of American Football cheerleaders, and the infamous annual Swimsuit magazine is presumably no longer appropriate.... that is unless the alleged $35m of advertising revenue it generates influences the shareholders decision in anyway?

The whole issue is about the message Liberty is wanting to send out. The grids girls are largely invisible anyway, 99.999% of people watch F1 on the TV and when the grid is shown (for example during a grid walk interview) at most you will catch a flash of one of them in the background as it's either the presenter talking to camera or them interviewing a driver. Majority of the remaining 0.001% of people who are at attendance at the track are either not at the start finish straight so definitely can't see them, or are too far away to really make them out. And if you have gone to the F1 race to ogle a grid girl from the start finish straight grandstands with a pair on binoculars then I would suggest it was not the most efficient use of money to achieve that result.

The truth is they could have got rid of the grid girls, not said anything, made everyone involved with F1 sign an NDA not to mention they were gone, and no one would have noticed. Liberty wants to make a statement, they want to send out the message that F1 has moved on from Bernie's era. Axing grid girls will get a lot of press attention without making any practical difference to the sport.

Anyone who stops watching F1 because grid girls got axed is going to be part of a very small group and was probably watching the sport for the wrong reasons. Sure, many people will be annoyed by it and will disagree with it happening, but it's the equivalent of Donald Trump changing the colour of the curtains in the Oval Office after moving in.

It's ultimately about image, not having grid girls is unlikely to deter existing fans or companies marketing to the sport, however the shift in image change may help attract new ones. It certainly underlines the fact that Bernie is gone.

I think the only people who care that Bernie has gone are probably already fans of F1 - I've never come across anyone who didn't watch F1 because of Bernie.....or the Grid Girls for that matter. If we had'nt had 'the Presidents Club' debacle i would hazard a guess that the Grid Girls would still be there. And i changed the curtains in my house when i moved in.

I think the only people who care that Bernie has gone are probably already fans of F1 - I've never come across anyone who didn't watch F1 because of Bernie.....or the Grid Girls for that matter. If we had'nt had 'the Presidents Club' debacle i would hazard a guess that the Grid Girls would still be there. And i changed the curtains in my house when i moved in.

You are taking my words too literally. Of course people who don't watch F1 will be unaware who Bernie is. I am referring to the general image of the sport, with fans and advertisers. By being in the news for axing grid girls creates a lot of news and attention for what is essential a nothing change to the sport, yet tells the non F1 viewers that 'the sport is modernising'

Advertisers will have been aware of Bernie and his ways, and there is no doubt that Ecclestone's way of running things attracted certain types of attention that would have put some advertisers off. Scrapping grid girls sends the message that the new owners are stepping away from that way of doing things.

I think the only people who care that Bernie has gone are probably already fans of F1 - I've never come across anyone who didn't watch F1 because of Bernie.....or the Grid Girls for that matter. If we had'nt had 'the Presidents Club' debacle i would hazard a guess that the Grid Girls would still be there. And i changed the curtains in my house when i moved in.

You are taking my words too literally. Of course people who don't watch F1 will be unaware who Bernie is. I am referring to the general image of the sport, with fans and advertisers. By being in the news for axing grid girls creates a lot of news and attention for what is essential a nothing change to the sport, yet tells the non F1 viewers that 'the sport is modernising'

Advertisers will have been aware of Bernie and his ways, and there is no doubt that Ecclestone's way of running things attracted certain types of attention that would have put some advertisers off. Scrapping grid girls sends the message that the new owners are stepping away from that way of doing things.

A bit like Trump undoing all of the Obama stuff then..........in Liberty's case all image no substance (imo)

I don't care one way or the other from a viewing perspective but I just hate the whole PC non-sense which surrounds this.

For a start, I think it's pretty patronising, taking away someone's job (which they probably also enjoy) and telling them it's for their own benefit. Like somehow this is stopping women from going to law school or becoming drivers themselves.

Its a sad world when one group of people dictate that no one can do what they don't approve of. If I approve or not is irrelevant. If I did I would not force anyone to do it, If I did not I would not prevent anyone doing it.

One of these images is of some grid girls (from Hungary I think). The other is from a popular yoghurt advert, shown regularly on mainstream TV. Which one has apparently been deemed inappropriate?

hiding images to save vertical scrolling (click to show)

Images from motorsport.com and Daily Mail

Believe me, if the grid was lined with shirtless guys I'd be complaining about that as well.

Saying they have been deemed "inappropriate" is wildly misleading. Liberty deciding they don't want grid girls anymore does not mean all companies are banned from using attractive women to promote their brand, it just means that Liberty have decided they want to shed the connotations associated with grid girls. There are and will continue to be many companies that use attractive, scantily clad women for advertising exactly the same way the yoghurt company has done.

March 18th is just around the corner..... and F1 won't matter, after all they really do not give a crap about fans do they.

This poll so far seems to indicate that the numbers are pretty split, so I don't think you can exactly say 'the fans' will be made unhappy by this decision.

Now the halo, you might have a point there. But this one is far from a universal anti-fan decision.

Possible for some I'm sure, but for me this is more like the straw that broke the camels back. Between rule changes, and lack of consistent enforcement of said rules and the never ending pay to play crap... it's time to move on, and that is ok (40 years is enough for a sport).

How does removing Grid girls improve the sport? i just think there are better things to do than firing a load of people to keep a small (yet vocal) group of people (who i highly doubt watch F1 anyway) satisfied.... until they find something else to complain about.

it does nothing to improve F1...

How does having them impact the sport positively? They're not F1 employees so Liberty aren't firing them

I will not mourn the passing of the Grid Girls and the Tunnel Girls. Always seemed to me to be a needless extravagance that did not enhance the Formula One show.

Personally I would much rather see a competent woman in the cockpit than models holding up umbrellas or number boards.

If anyone thinks this is about political correctness I suggest you look up the politics of Liberty Media and in particular it's chairman John Malone. The guy is pretty conservative and I can't see him engaging in any form of Political Correctness.